The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 88

The plants in Figures 372 and 373 were found in Haynes' Hollow.

The plant is quite bitter and no amount of cooking will make it edible.

Found in woods from August to September.

_Hydnum adustum. Fr._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 374.--Hydnum adustum. Natural size.]

Adustum means scorched, burned. The pileus is two to three inches broad, yellowish-white, blackish around the margin, coriaceous, slightly zoned; plane at first, then slightly depressed; tomentose, thin; frequently a plant will be found growing on the top of another plant. The spines are at first white, adnate, short, turning flesh-color and when dried almost black.

The stem is short, solid, tapering upward.

The plant is found growing in the woods on trunks and sticks after a rain in July, August, and September. It is not as plentiful as Hydnum spongiosipes and H. scrobiculatum. It is an attractive plant when seen in the woods.

_Hydnum ochraceum. P._

OCHREY HYDNUM.

Small, at first entirely resupinate, gradually reflexed, and somewhat repand, at first sparingly clothed with dirty-white down, at length rugose; one to three inches broad. The spines are short, entire, becoming pale. _Fries._

It is occasionally found on decayed sticks in the woods.

_Hydnum pulcherrimum. B. & C._

MOST BEAUTIFUL HYDNUM.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 375.--Hydnum pulcherrimum. Showing the under side of one of the pileoli.]

Pulcherrimum is the superlative of _pulcher_, beautiful.

The pileus is fleshy, somewhat fibrous, alutaceus, hirsute; the margin thin, entire, incurved.

The aculei short, crowded, equal.

It is found on beech wood, frequently imbricated and laterally confluent; a single pileus two to five inches in breadth and projecting two to four inches. The spines are rather short, not exceeding a quarter of an inch.

The entire plant is quite fibrous and has a hirsute surface. The color varies from whitish to alutaceous and yellowish. It is not common with us. Figure 375 represents one of the pilei showing the spines.

_Hydnum graveolens. Del._

FRAGRANT HYDNUM.

Graveolens means sweet-scented.

The pileus is coriaceous, thin, soft, not zoned, rugose, dark-brown, brown within, margin becoming whitish. The stem is slender and the spines are decurrent. The spines are short, gray.

The whole plant smells of melilot; even after it has been dried and kept for years it does not lose this scent.

I found two specimens in Haynes's Hollow.

_Irpex. Fr._

Irpex, a harrow, so called from a fancied resemblance of its teeth to the teeth of a harrow. It grows on wood; toothed from the first, the teeth are connected at the base, firm, somewhat coriaceous, concrete with the pileus, arranged in rows or like net-work. Irpex differs from Hydnum in having the spines connected at the base and more blunt.

_Irpex carneus. Fr._

This plant, as its specific name indicates, resembles the color of flesh. Reddish, effused, one to three inches long, cartilaginous-gelatinous, membranaceous, adnate. Teeth obtuse and awl-shaped, entire, united at the base. _Fries._

Found on the tulip-tree, hickory, and elm. September and October.

_Irpex lacteus. Fr._

Growing on wood, membranaceous, clothed with stiff hair, more or less furrowed, milk-white, as its specific name indicates.

The spines are compressed, radiate, margin porus. Found on hickory and beech logs and stumps.

_Irpex tulipifera. Schw._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 376.--Irpex tulipifera.]

Coriaceous-membranaceous, effused; hymenium inferior, at first toothed, teeth springing from a porus base, somewhat coriaceous, entirely concrete with the pileus, netted and connected at the base, white or whitish, turning yellowish with age.

This plant is very abundant here on fallen tulip trees. I have seen entire tree tops and trunks covered with this plant. The branches after they have been penetrated with the mycelial threads become very light and brittle.

_Phlebia. Fr._

Lignatile, resupinate, hymenium soft and waxy, covered with folds or wrinkles, edges entire or corrugated.

_Phlebia radiata. Fr._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 377.--Phlebia radiata.]

Somewhat round, then dilated, confluent, fleshy and membranaceous, reddish or flesh-red, the circ.u.mference peculiarly radiately marked. The folds in rows radiating from the center.

The spores are cylindric-oblong, curved, 4-51-1.5.

This is quite common on beech bark in the woods. Its bright color and mode of growth will attract attention.